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Cedar Creek Cinema: Ultra Loaded

11K views 43 replies 12 participants last post by  luisv 
#1 ·
I am pretty close to having my Ultra Loaded Cedar Creek Cinema finished. All I lack are the 4 Prime Satellite speakers for the ceiling to get Dolby Atmos setup, but not a big hurry, since there are so few titles released with the Atmos encoding. I hope to have that done in the next 30-60 days. The Prime Satellites have been flying out the door so fast (which is a good thing), that I can't seem to get my hands on any at the moment... but soon enough.

I have removed the built-in riser eighteens and columns, and refinished the walls with a texture. Had the room torn completely apart here for a while, but I am back enjoying it again.

Otherwise... SVS Ultra Towers, Ultra Center, Ultra Bookshelfs for surrounds... and a pair of PB13-Ultras for the sub duties. The system is controlled and powered by a Marantz SR7009 and Parasound HALO A31... with the OPPP 105 as the main source for music and movies.

How does it sound? Incredible... come listen for yourself. This has become as much a listening room for music as it is for theater... and it truly rivals some of the best I have heard anywhere.

You can see the full round of pics here: http://www.cedarcreekcinema.ws ... but here are a few shots for the thread.





 
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#30 ·
Great looking room and now that you've had the SVS Ultra speakers for a few months I'm curious as to your thoughts. Still as happy with them since you first set them up? Do you feel there is room for improvement? Any additional thoughts would be appreciated as I'm auditioning speakers and the Ultras are also on my list. I'm also looking into Ascend Acoustics Towers with the RAAL tweeters and matching Horizon center. For the last 16+ years, I've been using B&W 804 Matrix speakers within my system and I'm finally getting the itch to try something new. It's not a dedicated room, but I do have various panels and traps throughout. Main use is HT, but we do enjoy listening to music; however, my critical listening habits are few and far between watching movies. Room is roughly 17 x 19.
 
#31 ·
I don't have the SVS speakers any longer (I don't keep anything very long being in the audio business), but I can attest to the fact they are next to the best speakers I have had in my room... only surpassed by the $10K MartinLogan Montis... and then not by very much of a margin. I don't think you will go wrong with them. Plus... if you are in the U.S. you can try them out for 45 days... it's risk free. As with any speaker... for critical music listening, placement is a key factor. Not nearly as critical for movies, and the Ultras are absolutely killer on movies too.
 
#34 ·
Curious what you have in there now and if you have ever listened to the Tekton Pendragons.
 
#33 ·
Thanks for the input. I took a look at your build and I have the same sub and projector. :T
 
#35 ·
Right now I have a the MartinLogan ESLs with a Stage X and Motion 12's in the rear.

These Spatial Hologram M1's we have in hear for our amp evaluation event sound pretty good too. As noted... I don't keep anything for very long.

Never have heard the Pendragons... but have heard the Model Lores. They were a bit forward for my liking. As with any speaker, I highly recommend auditioning them in your own room.
 
#36 ·
Yes, for sure... an in home audition is best, so I was just curious if you heard the Pendragons in your room.
 
#37 ·
I am considering the SVS Ultra Towers and Ultra Center and was wondering if anyone had compared them to the B & W 683 S2 and the Martin Logan Motion 40's.
I've heard the B&Ws and liked them but have never heard the Motion 40s.
The Ultras seem like a lot more speaker than the other two but I've never heard them either.
I have a Marantz SR6005 AVR, 7 x 100 watts.
Any comments and opinions would be much appreciated.

Mark
 
#38 · (Edited)
I haven't heard the ML Motion 40s in my room, but when I auditioned them at a retailer, to my ears, they sounded better than the B&W 600 series within the same room and electronics. I also listened to the B&W CM 10 S2 in that same room with the same electronics and felt it was the best from that particular national retailer. I performed both audio and HT listening with their corresponding matching centers.

To give you some in room feedback, over the course of three of weeks, I auditioned my B&Ws, the SVS Ultra Tower and Center along with the Ascend Acoustic Sierra Towers and Horizon Center with RAAL tweeters. It was a great couple of weeks and my wife participated within the audition process. It might not have been the most scientific of auditions, but I did take the time to situate each speaker in my room, mark the floor with tape and therefore when switching speakers out I had reference marks for placement. I also took Dirac measurements with each trio and saved / applied the filters appropriately so they were properly setup for HT. For audio purposes, I listed in reference stereo to eliminate any tweaking of the speakers via Dirac. I tried to get as even as a playing field as I could... but I'm no pro. :T

Hands down, the Ultra towers had the most bass of the 3 speakers and presented a fuller HT experience, but musically, I felt that my 16+ year old B&Ws and Ascends sounded better. Not saying the SVS were not up to the task, in fact for the money they performed very well. They didn't provide as wide as a sound stage, but again, without the direct comparison, they performed very well. To my ears, the Ascend Horizon center was the the best of the bunch... dynamics and vocally it was fantastic. Unfortunately I had issues with the Sierra Towers. Although they had a wider audio presentation than the B&Ws and seemed more detailed, I just couldn't listen to them for longer than 20mins or so without experiencing hearing discomfort... wife was more sensitive than I. I provided room measurements to Ascend, moved acoustic panels around, tried various speaker placements with different degrees of toe in / toe out, but we couldn't figure it out. So I returned the Ascend trio. Between the SVS and B&Ws, I opted to stick with my B&Ws as there wasn't enough for me to justify the expense of the swap. Again, that being said... if I didn't have the B&Ws I would have kept the SVS Ultras... they do indeed sound very good.

As with all speaker reviews, feedback etc. nothing beats your own ears... so you owe it to yourself to try out the SVS Ultras in your room as SVS gives you an in-home basically no questions asked 45 day trial. My entire experience with SVS was great... I received them quickly and the return was just as fast.

Below are some pictures when I moving them into place and was doing initial side by side listening. I eventually moved them in and out of the room to perform expended listening sessions. In one of the pics you'll see a B&W CM Center 2 S2 as I was toying with the idea of going with B&Ws CM line; however, I ran out of time so I returned it. The small time I had with it, it sounded rather good.

Any questions, feel free to ask...

 
#39 ·
Luisv thank you very much for your thoughts on the SVS Ultras. It helped with my decision to buy them. I ordered the Ultra Towers and Ultra Center on Thursday and am very excited waiting for delivery on Tuesday l hope.
This sure is a fun hobby, expensive but fun.
Thanks again!
 
#40 ·
Great, glad you found the info helpful. Once they arrive, please post up your opinions / thoughts on them.
 
#41 ·
Ok I purchased the SVS Ultra Towers and the Ultra Center and am pretty happy with them, especially with movies. I am driving them with an Outlaw 7200 so they really sing. I'm using a pair of Vanderstein Model 1B's for the surrounds but would like to replace them with SVS speakers. I'm thinking about the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speaker but then I got thinking about the SVS Prime Towers.
Any thoughts as to which might sound better, match the Ultra Towers, etc.?
 
#43 ·
I bought sonnie's ultra system and couldn't be happier. For my understanding the tweeters on both ultras and primes are identical. I'm running the ultra bookshelfs and I see no issue with these as a surround speaker. I suppose you could buy two prime bookshelfs for the same price as one ultra. Honestly for the surrounds I think the Prime bookshelfs would be a good match and only set you back 500 bucks
 
#42 ·
Either will match up tonally, because SVS designed them that way... as well as they are ambiance speakers for the most part. I have used both (back and forth between higher mounted bookshelves/wall speakers and floorstanding... with several different models) and have not been able to tell a difference either way. I think it comes down to your personal preference.
 
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